NTT DoCoMo Puts Tizen Phone Plans On Hold

NTT DoCoMo has shelved plans to launch Tizen-based smartphones. It was expected to debut the first such handsets as soon as March, but now the plans have been put on hold indefinitely. According to NTT DoCoMo, the Japanese market is not big enough to support three smartphone operating systems. Android and iOS dominate the Japanese handset landscape. NTT's change of heart regarding Tizen is a setback for Samsung, which is the major handset company behind the fledgling operating system. Neither Samsung nor the Tizen Association responded publicly to NTT DoCoMo's sudden change in plans.

It seems to me that there is some question as to whether Tizen is just a little too similar to Android to make much difference. I've heard that, in theory, Tizen is supposed to work on the lowest-cost hardware available, and hence supplant the old basic/feature phones altogether, but I also know that Android is continually making progress in reaching further into the lower-tier. The question is whether Tizen will be ready in time to knock the old basic phones out of existence before Android can get there to do it.

On the other hand, it seems funny that someone would essentially say "Oh, we already have too many types of smartphone OS's floating around." And for only two OS's, at that. "Whoa, don't get too diverse on me"... that just s...(continues)